This illustration released on Sept 6, 2024, shows the twin spacecraft of NASA’s Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers entering Mars’ orbit. (PHOTO/ROCKET LAB USA)
American private aerospace company Blue Origin was awarded a contract by NASA on Tuesday to develop the agency’s Mars Telecommunications Network, a next-generation communications system designed to provide reliable, high-bandwidth communications and navigation services for current and future Mars missions.
The firm-fixed-price contract has a maximum potential value of approximately $700 million. Under the contract, Blue Origin will deliver a high-performance telecommunications orbiter for Mars to NASA no later than Dec 31, 2028, according to NASA.
Blue Origin will design, develop, integrate, launch, and operate the network as part of NASA’s broader space communications and navigation infrastructure.
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The network will include a high-performance telecommunications spacecraft orbiting Mars to transmit science data, imagery, navigation information, and critical mission communications for spacecraft operating on and around the planet.
The network, managed by NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation program, is expected to be operational at Mars by 2030 and will support both current and future missions to the Red Planet, according to NASA.
NASA said the contract award marks a milestone in its strategy to expand communications and navigation services beyond Earth and the Moon, laying the foundation for sustained exploration of Mars in the coming decades.